Planning and review of progress
Academic regulations for higher degrees by research state that students ‘must make satisfactory progress during the course of the candidature to obtain approval for re-enrolment in the program’. The formal planning and review documents monitor and report this progress to the Research Degrees Committee and therefore must be completed by all HDR students, their supervisor/s and coordinator. The various stages of the cycle are outlined here.
Milestones and requirements for candidature
The planning and review cycle
UniSA has designed a planning and review cycle for higher degrees by research in order to monitor the progress of each student’s project. The regular cycle assists HDR students, supervisors and coordinators to identify and discuss any issues or problems that arise and enables students to plan their progress over the ensuing six months, working towards submission of the thesis.
Students must make satisfactory progress during candidature to obtain approval for re-enrolment in the program (see Academic Regulations). The formal Planning and Review documents monitor and report this progress to the Research Degrees Committee and therefore must be completed by all HDR students, their supervisors and coordinator. The various stages of the cycle are outlined in this section and all forms and documents are available from the Forms and guidelines section of the Research degrees website.
Research Degree Graduate Qualities
The planning and review cycle also assists students to identify how they will develop and achieve the expected Research Degree Graduate Qualities (RDGQs). The RDGQs define what an HDR student achieves through undertaking a research thesis. They identify competencies that are transferable to the workplace, and therefore increase your employment potential, whether that employment be within the higher education sector, government, industry or the professions.
The Research Degree Graduate Qualities and how they can be achieved
Planning and review flow chart
Organising meetings
You will be reminded via email when the planning and review sessions must take place and you, your supervisor and the research degree coordinator must participate in the process. It is your responsibility to ensure that the planning and review takes place on time and that you make appointments with your Supervisor/s and Research Degree Coordinator.
Don't forget to check your email regularly!
Statement of Agreement and Welcome Meeting
Supervisors and students are expected to have a Welcome Meeting (planning meeting/s) soon after first enrolment to negotiate the activities the student will undertake and to discuss their relative expectations. These expectations will concern involvement in thesis writing and agreement on the important matters of plagiarism, Intellectual Property (IP) and the authorship of publications. It is expected that both supervisors will be involved in the initial meeting and this is a good time for both supervisors to be explicit about their responsibilities as principal and associate, or co-supervisors.
The Statement of Agreement is a document that sets out the specific and negotiated expectations, responsibilities and roles of the HDR Supervisors and Student and should be prepared in conjunction with the Welcome Meeting Checklist, within one month of commencement of candidature.
The Statement is a customised strategy for students to maximise their research education experience. It forms the basis for the student’s minor and major Reviews of Progress, which will in turn, inform the Final Review of Progress that demonstrates achievement of the Research Degree Graduate Qualities.
The Statement of Agreement is not intended to be a static document: It records an initial plan for the student (including achievement of the Research Degree Graduate Qualities) and therefore will guide the student’s first Review of Progress. However, each successive Review of Progress will review, revise and build upon previous Reviews of Progress throughout the duration of the candidature.
Download explanatory
information, the Welcome Checklist and Statement of Agreement
Reviews of Progress
Academic regulations governing higher degrees by research specify that at least two documented planning and review sessions must occur in each calendar year and a reminder email is sent from the Graduate Studies Office when the formal planning and review sessions must take place.
The purpose of a Review of Progress discussion is to review the student’s progress over the previous six months and to discuss a plan of work for the coming six months. The academic regulations state that students are responsible for arranging separate times to discuss progress with supervisors and, if required, the research degree coordinator. These meetings may be face-to-face, by telephone or by email and the Planning and Review forms and documentation are available from the ‘Research Degrees’ website all year round.
Please note: A report of satisfactory progress is required by November of each year so the Graduate Studies Office can re-enrol students for the following year and continue any scholarship payments. Failure to complete a review will prevent a student from being re-enrolled. More information about fees and enrolment
Academic regulations specify the procedures to be followed where the outcome of a student’s review report is unsatisfactory or if there are problems impeding progress.
Download the Progress planning
and review report form
Matters for discussion
Changes to your project
Because of the nature of research, your project may change direction. For example, information that your research uncovers may not be what you had expected when you wrote your proposal, and may have implications for the entire direction of the project. This is not a bad thing (it would be a rather boring research program if all the results were completely as expected) but it may require you to alter your proposed activities for the following months. For instance, you may need to plan additional field or laboratory work, or arrange to visit an interstate or overseas library or gallery to examine other works you have discovered. If you are adding research activities, you may need to delete others so that your time commitment is not affected.
Refer to your original research proposal that was approved.
- Does it now need modifying?
- Do you need to add or delete from the literature review?
- Does it need alterations to the methodology?
Maintaining your proposal as a working document this way will help it function as an early draft of the thesis.
Due to changes to your project, or for other reasons, you may also need to change your program
Networking
If you need to branch out in a different direction, you may be moving into areas not quite so central to your supervisor's area of expertise in which case it may be useful to seek guidance from experts in other fields, even with rather different methodological approaches. Your supervisor may be able to suggest people to approach; alternatively you might need to tap into research networks to find academic staff elsewhere in UniSA, or even in other universities, possibly interstate or overseas.
Networking acts as a useful progress check because your contacts may be the ones who examine your thesis. If you establish good networking contacts, these people can provide you informal feedback on the depth of your work and the appropriateness of your methodology. The Networking in the research community online workshop (staff and student access only), part of Research Education Support Activities, will give you ideas for how to network.
Reporting
A satisfactory report of your progress in second semester is required before the Graduate Studies Office completes your re-enrolment the following year, and for continuation of scholarship payments.
Regulations concerning the requirements of the review of progress can be found in the regulations to the relevant research degree policies
Should the outcome of your review be deemed unsatisfactory, the Divisional Research Degrees Management Committee will review your progress to ascertain whether any special requirements should be put in place, whether any grievance procedures have been appropriately dealt with and, in the final instance, whether candidature and/or scholarships should be terminated. Regulations covering unsatisfactory progress procedures and appeals can be found in the relevant policies and regulations
Resolving progress issues in higher
degrees by research
Useful links
- Academic regulations for Higher Degrees by Research and Doctor of Philosophy (by Portfolio of Publications)
- Research Degree Graduate Qualities and Resources for Research Degree Graduate Qualities
- Forms and guidelines
- 2008 calendar